U N I T E D   N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Integrated Regional Information Network for Central Asia

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Central Asia
IRIN-CA Weekly Round-up 115
07 - 13 June 2003


CONTENTS:

AFGHANISTAN: Government acts to strengthen security after suicide attack
AFGHANISTAN: Coalition shares UN's concern over ethnic composition of new army
AFGHANISTAN: Highway security force to boost reconstruction work
CENTRAL ASIA: Experts cite lack of political will on water management
CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap
KYRGYZSTAN: TB remains problematic in rural areas and prisons
PAKISTAN: Interview with leading human rights activist
PAKISTAN: Special report on child protection
PAKISTAN: Refugees worried about dumping of bodies
TAJIKISTAN: Aid efforts under way after torrential rains kill three
TAJIKISTAN: TB on the rise in the north
TURKMENISTAN: Interview with United Nations Resident Representative
UZBEKISTAN: Local activists see little improvement in rights situation

AFGHANISTAN: Government acts to strengthen security after suicide attack

The Afghan government is taking steps to strengthen security after a
suicide bomber attacked a bus carrying German international peacekeeping
forces in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Saturday, killing four soldiers
and wounding 31. It was the worst incident of its kind to date for the
UN-mandated International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). "We have
intensified intelligence on the ground and have started monitoring some
suspected and identified elements' movements," Hillaluddin Hellal, the
deputy interior minister, told IRIN in Kabul on Sunday.

[For a full copy of this report see:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=34632&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN]

AFGHANISTAN: Coalition shares UN's concern over ethnic composition of new
army

Following the United Nations' recent call for political and ethnic reform
within the Afghan National Army (ANA), as well as the country's defence
ministry, the US-led international coalition has joined that call, urging
the government to address the issue. "There is a concern that has been
expressed by international partners about the ethnic composition of the
ANA and perhaps the Afghan Ministry of Defence," Col Rodney Davis, a
coalition spokesman, told IRIN in the capital, Kabul, on Wednesday.

[For a full copy of this report see:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=34690&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN]

AFGHANISTAN: Highway security force to boost reconstruction work

Following a series of armed attacks on aid agencies and others along the
Kabul-Kandahar highway, the Afghan government has announced that a 700-man
security force will be deployed along the 540-km route to ensure the
security of foreign companies working on the highway. This being
Afghanistan's principal road, connecting the capital with the south and
west of the country, its rehabilitation is seen as vital. "Seven hundred
policemen as a component of a national highway security contingent have
been prepared and will be deployed along the road very soon," Ali Ahmad
Jalali, the interior minister, told IRIN in the capital, Kabul on
Thursday.

[For a full copy of this report see:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=34739&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=AFGHANISTAN]

CENTRAL ASIA: Experts cite lack of political will on water management

Whereas the issue of water management and water-related conflict remains
at the top of the agenda in Central Asia, a region with rising water
consumption coupled with increasing scarcity, experts cite a lack of real
political will in the context of action towards resolving the issue. The
five former Soviet states use more water than is sustainable, thereby
fuelling the probability of conflict at the local level. "The main water
issue in Central Asia today is the lack of political commitment on the
interstate level. Governments simply don't try to find common solutions
for cross-border water problems," Robert Templer, the Asia programme
director for the International Crisis Group (ICG), an independent crisis
prevention group based in Brussels, told IRIN.

[For a full copy of this report see:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=34737&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=CENTRAL_ASIA]

CENTRAL ASIA: Weekly news wrap

Three people died and three others were reported missing after torrential
rains struck the mountainous northern areas of Tajikistan at the end of
last week. According to the United Nations, the three were killed after
mud-slides ripped through the Panjakent District of Sughd Province, 200 km
north of the Tajik capital, Dushanbe. Over 100 homes were said to have
been destroyed, leaving scores homeless.

[For a full copy of this report see:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=34744&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=CENTRAL_ASIA]

KYRGYZSTAN: TB remains problematic in rural areas and prisons

While there have been some signs of improvement, tuberculosis (TB)
continues to remain a major health concern in Kyrgyzstan. Of the country's
five million inhabitants, those in rural areas and the state's overcrowded
prisons are most at risk. "The situation with TB in rural areas is
stabilising", Oscon Moldokulov, a liaison officer with the World Health
Organisation (WHO), told IRIN from the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, noting,
however, that case detection for the disease still fell short of the WHO's
target of 70 percent.

[For a full copy of this report see:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=34702&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=KYRGYZSTAN]

PAKISTAN: Interview with leading human rights activist

With recent developments on the political scene in Pakistan creating panic
among ordinary people about where their country's future lies, following
the passing of the Shari'ah in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP),
leading human rights experts say the federal government needs to gain a
tighter grip over provincial decisions which could have damaging effects
on the country in the long run. In an interview with IRIN from the Punjabi
city of Lahore, I.A. Rehman, the director of the Human Rights Commission
of Pakistan and a seasoned journalist, said there had been some changes in
human rights under President Pervez Musharraf, but that recent political
developments could have destabilising effects.

[For a full copy of this report see:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=34633&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN]

PAKISTAN: Special report on child protection

Of Pakistan's population of 140 million, half are children, making the
need for child protection in the poverty-stricken country essential. In a
nation where 33 percent of the population lives under the poverty line,
children are forced to work in areas rendering them vulnerable to
dangerous situations, compromising their rights. Some of the major issues
in Pakistan presently affecting children are child labour, abuse,
trafficking and exposure to violence and trafficking. In recognition of
the need to tackle such issues, the country has committed itself to
bettering their situation. Ibrahim Jabr, the country representative of the
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), told IRIN in the capital,
Islamabad, that the government had already taken important steps towards
providing children with protection.

[For a full copy of this report see:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=34607&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN]

PAKISTAN: Refugees worried about dumping of bodies

Refugees living on Pakistan's southwestern border have expressed concern
over their safety following the dumping in their vicinity of the bodies of
about 20 individuals killed in recent fighting. The bodies were of
suspected Taliban fighters killed during a battle with Afghan government
troops in the Spin Buldak area of southeastern Afghanistan on 4 June. The
international media reported that up to 40 suspected Taliban fighters and
nine Afghan soldiers had been killed in the battle. "Refugees in the
waiting area had already expressed concern over security in the past, and
this incident highlights this and doesn't improve the atmosphere," a
spokesman for the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR),
Jack Redden, told IRIN in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.

[For a full copy of this report see:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=34641&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN]

TAJIKISTAN: Aid efforts under way after torrential rains kill three

Aid efforts were continuing on Monday after torrential rains swept through
the Penjikent District of Tajikistan's northern Sughd province, killing at
least three and leaving three missing over the weekend. "The situation is
being assessed and at this stage the immediate needs of the affected
population are being addressed," Marzia Nazarova, a senior coordination
assistant with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA) in Tajikistan, told IRIN from the Tajik capital, Dushanbe. Valentin
Gatzinski, the head of OCHA in Tajikistan told IRIN that the country had
an unusual spring precipitation with a long, cold and wet season. "A
number of mud/landslides have already occurred, though the weekend saw the
heaviest rains, accompanied by stormy winds, in the north of the country,"
he said.

[For a full copy of this report see:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=34634&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=TAJIKISTAN]

TAJIKISTAN: TB on the rise in the north

The number of reported tuberculosis (TB) cases is on the rise in
Tajikistan's northern Sughd Province despite the recent introduction by
the World Health Organisation (WHO) of a new method of diagnosing and
treating disease. "It is very high in some districts, but it does not mean
that the epidemic is increasing. It is probably because of the new
diagnostic technique," Nazira Artykova, a liaison officer with WHO, told
IRIN from the capital, Dushanbe, on Wednesday.

[For a full copy of this report see:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=34680&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=TAJIKISTAN]


TURKMENISTAN: Interview with United Nations Resident Representative

Turkmenistan has been widely criticised for it's poor human rights record,
isolationism and the personality cult of it's leader, President Saparmurat
Niyazov. Despite enormous proven gas reserves, the country has made little
headway economically since independence in 1991 and in areas of governance
remains the least progressive of the five Central Asian republics. In an
interview with IRIN, the UN's Resident Coordinator, Khaled Philby, said
that ongoing dialogue with Niyazov's administration was helping to address
some of these issues and that the country was beginning to take its
responsibilities as a UN member nation more seriously.

[For a full copy of this report see:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=34709&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=TURKMENISTAN]

UZBEKISTAN: Local activists see little improvement in rights situation

Local human-rights groups in Uzbekistan have expressed varying views over
their country's human-rights record following last month's annual meeting
of the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in the
capital, Tashkent. Whereas some have suggested that the situation has
improved, others assert that it has actually worsened. "Over the past year
and a half, the overall human rights situation in the country has improved
to a great extent," Mikhail Ardzinov, the head of the Independent Human
Rights Organisation of Uzbekistan, told IRIN from Tashkent. While
conceding that genuine shortcomings remained, he noted that the sustained
influence and pressure being brought to bear on President Islam Karimov by
international organisations had been having a positive effect.

[For a full copy of this report see:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=34650&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=UZBEKISTAN]


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